Vandusen Gardens

    It is still Saturday May 24th, but it seems Travbuddy won't let me seperate anything unless I put in a different date.

So off we went to Vandusen Gardens.  Now I have lived in BC since forever and had yet to make it over to these beautiful gardens...you know hardly ever see your backyard.  It was awesome...I ran around like a chicken with my head cut off because I knew we still had Capilano suspension Bridge and Grouse Mountain to go to.  Capaliano closed at 800pm, so I needed to get my butt in gear.   You can only cram so much into one day:):):)  The spring flowers were all out, and things were blooming everywhere. 

Okay History time:

I could not dig up much on the gardens but here is the story anyways.

In 1910, this site was an isolated acreage of stumps and bush.  Imagine that, it is hard for me to visualize it because Vancouver is such a bustling city.  The land was owned by the Canadian Pacific Railway (Pacific Central Station where the buses come in), and was leased by the Shaughnessy Golf Club from 1911 until 1960 when the golf club moved to a new location.  The railway proposed a subdivision, but was opposed by a vast majority of citizens. (I never knew).  In 1966, the VanDusen Botanical Garden Association was formed to assit the Vancouver Park Board with saving the site.  This effort was successful and the land was purchased with shared funding from the city of Vancouver, the government of British Columbia, and the Vancouver Foundation with a donation by W. J. VanDusen, after whom the garden ws named. (whew).

Development started in 1971 and VanDusen Botanical Garden officially opened to the public August 30, 1975.  (Wow and I have never been here).

The gardens cover about 22 hectares (55 acres), and is home to more than 255,000 plants (Hey I counted them all), (ok I am lying), more than 7,300 varieties from around the world. (who counts all these things)?
The plants are organized to represent the flora of many various ecosystems, including the native Pacific Northwest, as well as sub-tropical Africa, (I missed that), the Himalayas, Arctic Canada, and many others.

There are also many sculptures that vary in size, shapes.

A bit about the princess tree

I love this tree, I have not seen one in Victoria, but then who know it may be hidden somewhere
It's name is Paulownia Tomentosa or Princess tree, Wonder tree, and foxglove tree.  So I pick Princess tree. 
In China it was once a tradition to plant the tree to celebrate the birth of a baby girl.  (Hey I learn something new every darn day).
It can grown as much as 50 feet or more, and looks awesome. 


All in all I loved it there, I need to go back again and take more time to really see it all.

I hope you enjoy the tour ........